Ash's Journey, A New Outlook
by Someguyfromthe1600s
Summary: AU.Ash instead of being a bumbling idiot, is actually smart, and motivated. He knows what a novice trainer should know, does what a novice trainer should do, and decides to take the Pokemon world by storm. Pairings undecided
1. Chapter 1

**Author Notes: So this is my first attempt at writing a story. I decided on Pokémon due to it being the simplest to write. I hope to make this epic length, but we will see were time takes me. I make no promises on update speed; I have school, work, and a somewhat social life. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon; if I did I would be Japanese, and not needing to write this. Thank you**

Ash Ketchum is a boy of 10 years old, with a head of messy black hair. He is currently sitting in his room watching the latest Pokémon League battle. The battle is a fierce match, between a Nidorino and a Gengar. The announcer's voice rings out, "_Nidorino begins the battle with a horn attack! Oh, but Gengar bounces right back with Hypnosis. And there it is the hypnosis power of Gengar_!"

Ash was watching the battle with extreme focus, and learning as much as he could. '_I start my journey tomorrow, and I will receive one of the 3 starters from Professor Oak. I'm hoping for a Charmander, but honestly I would be ok with any of them'._

He had thought long and hard about which one he wanted, but in the end he just couldn't make up his mind, at least not until he met them himself. After all, Pokémon have as many personalities as humans do, and reading into generalizations on how a Pokémon behaves can only go so far.

As he was deep in thought, the door swung open revealing a middle-aged woman with long brown hair, whose name was Delia Ketchum, the boy's mother.

Delia spoke with a stern, yet kind voice, "Ash Ketchum what are you doing awake at this hour, you have an early day tomorrow after all."

He responded sheepishly, "Sorry mom, I just got so caught up thinking about my journey."

"I understand honey, but even young Pokémon masters need their sleep. How do you expect to make the right choice with no sleep?" she asked.

The boy chucked, "Your right mom, you normally are."

Delia smiled, gave Ash a hug and said, "Just get to sleep, because you need to get yourself up. It's one of the many things you will have to do by yourself, including remembering to change your-"

Ash quickly cut her off, "Underwear, yes I know Mom, I _am_ 10 years old now. But I'll turn off the TV, and set my alarm."

"Goodnight dear." Delia said, as she thought sadly_, 'This is the last time I will get to say that to him for a while.'_

* * *

"BEEEEEEEEEEEP BEEEEEEEEEEP BEEEEEEEEEP" Ash's eyes shot open in excitement, today was the day, he would get to choose…CRAP.

He looked at his clock, it read 8 A.M. That meant he set his alarm for the time he was supposed to be at the professors ranch. He cursed his tired mind, and rushed getting ready. Quickly he changed out of his pajamas and into his clothes. He also grabbed the bad he had packed the day before luckily, and rushed downstairs.

He waved bye to his mother as he zoomed out the door, he heard her yell after him, "I'll meet you there Ash, don't you dare leave before giving your mom a goodbye kiss."

* * *

Sitting on a hill, above the rest of Pallet Town, sat a building with a pink roof and a windmill behind it. This was none other than the Ranch of the famous Pokémon Professor Samuel Oak. He is renowned across the world for his study on the interactions between humans and Pokémon, as well as the person to introduce so many young trainers to the world of Pokémon.

As Ash climbed the steps to Professor Oak's ranch, he saw Gary Oak coming down the long stair-case, looking like he just won the poke-lottery. Gary Wore a simple blue shirt, jeans, boots, and the green/yellow necklace he always wore.

"Hey Ashy-boy, looks like your already behind me. I got my starter already, I choose Squirtle. This little guy is going to be strong, I can feel it. Which one are you planning on getting, even if you are late" laughed Gary.

Ash and Gary have a long history together. The boys grew up as friends, but like most friends, eventually got into a fight. Looking back, Ash decided it was probably the dumbest fight they could have had. One day about a year back, the pair were fishing in a nearby river. All of a sudden, they hooked a pokeball at the same time, and broke into a tuck-of-war over the pokeball, ending in them breaking it. Each blaming the other, they didn't speak for weeks. Eventually, Ash decided he wanted his friend back, so he sucked up his ego, and walked to Gary's house. When he got to the house, he offered to give Gary his part of the pokeball. Gary thought about it for a second, took it, and to Ash's surprise, gave Ash his own half. Since that day, they have been best friends.

Ash smirked and replied, "I'm hoping for a charmander myself, but I might have to take bulbasaur now that I know what yours is."

Gary then said "We both know you aren't one to take the easy way Ash."

"You know me to well, but honestly though, I'm not sure which one to get, it did just get a bit easier though with one already chosen." Ash observed.

Gary then got close and whispered in his ear, "Between you and me, Gramps actually has another Pokémon he got specifically for this group of trainers. I don't know why, but I remember him saying something about this being meant to be or something. Probably just old people talk though, but that means you still have 3 choices because you're the second one here. Leaf is still probably sleeping; she always did enjoy her beauty sleep too much."

Ash chuckled and asked, "Well if you got to see all of the starters what is it?"

The young Oak smirked and started spinning his pokeball on his finger, "Sorry, but unlike you I already knew what Pokémon I wanted. I didn't even look at any of the others."

"Fine, I guess I will just have to go and find out myself now" replied ash as he pretended to be annoyed with his friend. "Just make sure to get a good head start on me, because you're going to need it to keep ahead!"

Gary laughed and replied, "Ok, if you want to give yourself a handicap who am I to complain, just don't take too long, I'll get bored because I doubt any other trainer will be able to give me much of a challenge."

Chuckling once again at Gary's antics, he waved goodbye, and continued up the stairs to the legendary professor's lab.

* * *

After arriving at the door, knocking, and shown in by an assistant, Ash found his way into the professors main lab. When he go into the room, the first thing he noticed was a machine sitting in the middle of the room with 2 poke balls sitting on top of it. Next, he saw Professor Oak sitting in his favorite chair typing away at the computer. Ash cleared his throat, causing the processor to turn around and smile. Oak is a grandfatherly looking, 50 year old man, with white hair and a clean shave. He was wearing his signature lab coat as well.

"Well Ash, I'm glad to see you made it here even if you are a good 15 minutes late. I thought you were going to be the first one here, what happened?" the professor kindly asked.

Ash sighed. "I set my alarm for 8 instead of 7 by accident"

That would definitely do it", laughed the Professor, "Now let's get on with while you are really here. Since I'm sure my Grandson has already told you which starter he picked, the only 2 Pokémon that would normally be left are charmander and Bulbasaur. But due to certain…circumstances…I have another Pokémon you might be interested in. It is a bit rebellious and won't listen to me, but I am sure I'm just too old. I believe it needs a young, ambitious trainer to train it properly."

Ash's was getting a little fidgety now, "Gary mentioned that to me too, claimed he didn't know what it was. What is it? Some sort of exotic Pokémon, like a beldum from Hoenn, or maybe a cool, rare one like dratini?" Because despite his normal composure, something about Pokémon just got him incredibly excited.

Once again laughing at the enthusiasm of the youth, Oak replied by pressing a button. This caused the machine sitting in the middle of the room to make some noise, and out of the middle came a third pokeball with a lightning bolt on it. Grabbing it, he prepared himself for the inevitable, and hit the release mechanism on the pokeball. A white light came out of the opened ball, and small yellow rodent appeared. The rodent was sitting on the machine, looking very irritated.

Oak let out a sigh of relief '_thank god Pikachu didn't shock me'_ he thought, and then explained to Ash "This here is a Pikachu, a small electric rodent. A very unconventional starter, but it would make a fine partner if you can get him to listen to you, what do you say? I know you had a hard time picking from the 3 normal ones, so how about something you never even thought of before? After all, most new trainers don't think about what starter they want beforehand like you and Gary."

Ash thought about it,_ 'He's right, maybe I put too much thought into this. Perhaps I should try something unexpected…' _and he made up his mind. After all, electric types were hard to come by. "I choose Pikachu then, even if he has an attitude, I can fix that, I mean I fixed Gary's didn't I? "stated Ash with a goofy grin.

Oak smiled at this,_ 'I'm glad I played my part, time to see were you will go Ash'._ "Very well, here is your pokédex, pokéballs, and some basic supplies for your Pokémon; I hope you have a safe journey my boy."

"Thanks professor, I'm sure I will see you soon, after all I only need to catch 5 Pokémon before they are sent to you now don't I", said Ash, as he walked out of the door, and to the start of his Pokémon journey.

**Let me know what you think, like the direction I am taking ash's character? Do I explain stuff enough? not enough? Easy to follow? Let me know, all you have to do is hit the review button below!**


	2. Chapter 2

**I know it took a bit to get this out, but like I said I do have very limited time to sit down and write. I hope I maybe, fixed some of the problems with flow in this chapter. I also edited the last champter slightly, mostly with the punctuation I missed. Thank you for pointing that out to me, and I hope to get better in the future. **

**Without future delay though, here is chapter 2, let's see how you like it!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon, and I am not making money from this, in fact I am losing sleep, so please don't sue me. **

As Ash walked back down the steps of the lab, he held in his hand a pokeball with his first Pokémon inside. It was a hassle to get the little guy back into the device, _'I won't be trying that again, way too much work. Besides I'm going to need to build some trust with Pikachu'. _At the bottom of the steps there his mom was, waiting for him.

"Hey Mom, you will never believe what Pokémon I got as my starter!"

Pondering the question for a second, she responded, "Was it that charmader you were talking so much about?"

Ash smiled, "Nope, I got a Pikachu. Weird right? The Professor mentioned something about this being a special case. I don't know what he meant by that, but, I'm just excited to start my journey and meet new friends."

"Be safe honey. You will always be my little boy, even if you are 10 years old now. Here is some money for your journey. Yes I know you probably have enough but a little more will never hurt. If you need anything, please, don't hesitate to call." Delia gave a sad smile and then smothered her son in a hug.

"I'm going to miss you too Mom, but I can take care of myself and plus, I've got my new Pokémon to take care of me".

With that, Ash waved goodbye to his mom, and turned his back on the professor's ranch and headed down the road. '_I truly am going to miss it here, but not enough to give up my dream of being a pokemon master, and leave on my adventure'._

* * *

Once Ash made it to the outskirts of town, he decided it would be a good time to get to know his new partner. He grabbed the pokeball from his belt, and released the creature inside.

The yellow rodent from the lab appeared. Noticing he was outside instead of a building, he took a look at the young boy next to it.

Giving a glare, while his checks sparling with electricity, Pikachu pointed to that cramped contraption, and shouted, "Pika, Pikachu!"

Ash tried his best to explain. "Ok, ok, you don't like the ball, I get it. But you are a Pokémon and Pokémon normally live inside of these things."

Instead of responding, Pikachu glared at the human, and decided to give him a little shock.

"PIIIKA…..CHUUU!"

And with that, Ash was hit with a bolt of lightning. Falling to the dirt, and giving a couple twitches, he thought' _Ok don't piss off Pikachu, he packs a punch. He doesn't want to go back into the pokeball I won't make him. If I want to be fiends, I will have to make compromises with him. I need a peace offering though, and I know just the thing.'_

When Ash could stand again, he noticed the yellow mouse had decided to climb into a nearby tree. Sighing, he reached into his bag and grabbed for something.

Yelling up into the tree, "Hey, if you don't want to go back into this pokeball, you don't have too. But I would like it if you would come down and talk to me. We are in this together Pikachu, please just listen to me for a little bit. I would like to tell you a bit about myself before you judge me to harshly."

Ash then set down a bowl with brown looking pebbles inside of it. "And to prove I am being friendly, I have some food for you. It's not the best, but I know that you must be hungry right?"

The mouse tilted its head, trying to decide if the human was telling the truth or not. He no longer saw the evil ball of confinement. Deciding to trust the human a little bit and giving into his hunger, Pikachu came down the tree. But even as he started nibbling on the poke-chow, he never took an eye off of this new human.

Happy that his Pokémon listen to him, even a little, "Alright, I'm glad you decided to hear me out. First of all, my name is Ash Ketchum, and I am 10 years old. Before I started my journey, I enjoyed hanging out with my friends, reading about Pokémon, and drawing occasionally as well. Now though, I want to give 120% to being a Pokémon trainer, because my dream is to one day become a Pokémon Master. But to do this, I will need your help Pikachu. You are my first Pokémon and I want you to help me in achieving my dream, or it won't go very far. I would also like to be your friend, because the second part of my dream is to learn all I can about Pokémon. If I cant even befriend pokemon, how can I learn about them? So, what do you say? Friends?"

Pikachu looked at this weird human. He had only met a couple others, and couldn't remember much about them. That human with the lab coat had caught him, but Pikachu hadn't interacted with him that much. The rodent then looked up at the now named human, Ash, and looked him in his eyes. Black eyes met hazel, and something happened. Pikachu couldn't say exactly what. Maybe it was the determination in his eyes, maybe it was the kindness and sincerity of his words, or maybe it was something else. But he could feel the emotion rolling off of Ash, and knew that he could give this human a chance.

Ash couldn't help but feel nervous. '_This will determine the rest of my journey, if I can't even get my starter Pokémon to like me, how will I expect to get other Pokémon to? In fact, how would I even catch another Pokémon? No, he will like me. If not now, then I will prove to the little guy how much he means to me. Even if I barely know the mouse, I feel like I have known him forever'._

Finally, after what seemed like the longest 5 minutes of Ash's young life, the mouse jumped up onto the boys shoulder. Surprised, Ash jerked back a little from the sudden weight added to him, and with a smile asked, "Does this mean you will be my friend?"

The mouse nodded his head, and then pointed to the pokeball on his trainer's belt. Pikachu then shook his head back and forth, giving Ash the impression that as long as that ball stayed there, then they were square.

"Alright, thank you so much. I promise no more pokeball for you little guy. Well, then I guess we can hit the road if your ready!" Ash exclaimed, while vowing silently to do whatever it took to fully gain his new partners trust.

* * *

The pair traveled down the path that lead to Viridian City, and Ash was determined to make his first Pokémon capture. He knew that a good Pokémon for a beginner trainer to try and capture would be a pidgey. They were a flying type Pokémon, a necessity for making sure to find your way if you got lost. And he knew that he would get lost at least once. Plus, from what he had read, they were relatively weak and an easy capture. Although capturing one proved a lot harder than he would have thought.

"Pikachu, use thunder shock!"

As soon as Pikachu charged his attack, the little bird flew away from the electric attack. Pikachu tried to hit the bird again, but it had already flown to far away. This was Ash and Pikachu's fifth attempt at trying to catch one of those little birds, and they were getting very frustrated. Ash, because he always thought catching a pidgey was easy, but apparently, it was not. And Pikachu was because his attacks were so far out of practice and inaccurate.

"Ok Pikachu, we need a new plan. This as taken up most of our day, and I've set my mind to caching my first Pokémon my first day. Obviously, attacking head on won't work…so here is what we are going to do…"

Ash had set up a little pile of some Pokémon food, waiting for the pidgey to come and start eating. It was simple really. Step one, lay down some Pokémon food. Step two; wait for a pidgey to show up. And step 3, tell Pikachu ahead of time to attack when the bird landed, so Ash wasn't shouting out and alerting the pidgey to his presence. As Ash sat in the bush, he watched as a pidgey flew down and started nibbling at the food. Shortly after, Pikachu launched an electric attack at the unsuspecting bird, and hit it dead on.

Seeing his opportunity, Ash jumped up out of the bush and launched an empty pokeball at the small bird. When the ball hit it, pidgey disappeared in a flash of light, and the pokeball started wobbling. Once, twice, and after a third shake, the red light in the center of the ball vanished, signaling a successful capture. Ash stood there for a few seconds, and then with a shout ran up and grabbed the ball

"We did it Pikachu! You helped me capture my first pokemon"

"Pika, Pi Pikachu!"

Smiling, Ash stood there holding his new pokeball. '_That was a little trickier than I thought, but then again, it makes sense. Pidgey are very timid creatures and scare easy. I'm just glad we caught our first new friend, and I should probably let my new friend out. But Pidgey will need to rest for a little bit though, it did get hit by an electric attack from Pikachu'._

"Alright, let's keep heading towards viridian city. Took my Dad 4 days to get there according to my Mom not sure how because everyone I have talked to said it shouldn't take more than day. But then again, she also said he was a little bit of a klutz. I never met him though Pikachu because he died before I was born. My mom has never said how though; guess it is just too painful to think about."

Surprised, Pikachu looked at its trainer with a pair of sad eyes. He never met either of his own parents either; being hatched by a human will do that. He gave Ash a reassuring pat on his foot, and then jumped back onto his shoulder.

"Enough of this sad talk, time to walk! So, do you want to try and make it to viridian in a day Pikachu, or should we take it slower? After all we had a long day first getting to know each other, and then chasing those pidgey around. We could cross the river coming up and find a nice spot to make camp, and let Pidgey out so we can get to know it. I say it, because I'm not sure if Pidgey is a boy or girl. See, like I said, we need to get to know the little bird!"

After finding a suitable spot, Ash pitched his tent, collected wood to make a fire, and started boiling some canned soup he packed. Ash may not be a 5 star chef, but he had made sure to learn how to make basic food from his mom. After all, he needed to survive in the wilderness somehow. Looking over at Pikachu, who was busy munching away on the generic Pokémon food he brought with him, he decided now would be as good of any time to let his newest Pokémon out for a meet and greet.

Throwing the red and white ball into the air, he said "Get ready to meet your new friend Pikachu, because Pidgey, come on out!

**So, first Pokémon capture eh? Hope you liked how I did it, I didn't want to make capturing his first Pokémon too easy, but at the same time, one thunder shock from Pikachu and of course it would be knocked out. Now, please review with questions, concerns, statements, or something you believe I need to improve/fix. Thank you!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry about the long wait guys. Work has been kicking my ass, and finals are coming up for classes so i haven't had the opportunity to do much haha. So here is the chapter**

**Disclaimer: I am no way shape or form the owner of Pokemon. I make no money from this. Don't sue please**

After the flash of light ended, a little bird appeared standing on the ground looking a little singed due to the direct electric attack it took. Pidgey looked around, saw ash and then took a leap back in fright, knowing what had happened._ 'Great, I have been caught. I have seen how some of these humans treat us Pokémon, and I'm scared. I hope this human is nice, that Pikachu seems happy enough though'._ As Pidgey was trying to decide what to think of her new trainer, _Ash_ knelt and took a Potion he brought with him. Pidgey took another hop backwards in fright.

"Hey buddy. I'm your new trainer, Ash Ketchum and this is my partner Pikachu. Don't be scared, this little bottle will make your wounds heal faster; I don't like the idea of you being hurt. I'm sorry I had to catch you by having Pikachu electrocute you, but I was really excited to catch my first Pokémon and meet another friend."

Pidgey was hesitant to let the human close to her yet when Pikachu hopped off Ash's shoulder

"PikaPi Chu pikachu pi pika." (I understand if you're a little scared of the human, but Ash is different. He has a kind heart)

"Pidgy piiidgy piiiiiiidggggy." (Really? Alright if you vouch for him, I'll give him a chance. My wounds are hurting) Pidgey said as she decided to hop over towards Ash to allow him to administer the medicine.

"Thank you. I would have felt terrible if you stayed injured like that. Anyway this will sting some, so hold on for a sec."

As Ash sprays the little bird, she cries out in a little pain, but it quickly disappears as the medicine starts to work.

"Alright, I'm glad you decided to trust me a little. If you really don't want to stay as my Pokémon though, I can release you after you're healed"

Pidgey was shocked. She had already accepted that she would be forced to become this trainer's Pokémon. It would be inevitable to become friends eventually, like what happens between most Pokémon and their trainers. But she never imagined that a human would offer to release her, maybe Ash really was different._ 'I'll stay with him; after all, I do want to get stronger. And those sparrows are bullies, they won't leave me alone. Getting away from here will be good for me.'_

Ash was a little worried. He didn't want to release pidgey, but if the little bird wanted freedom who was he to stop it. He made the decision that he would never force a Pokémon he caught to stay captured. If he wanted to become strong, he would need a team of Pokémon that wanted to be there to become strong with him. Forcing a Pokémon to fight for you would be like walking through a river against the current.

As Ash was deciding a very important policy that he would guide him the rest of his journey, Pidgey hopped over to her new trainer to tell him what she had decided.

"Piiiiidg, pidgey!"

"So you're staying? That's awesome! I was worried there for a second you would leave. We are heading to viridian tomorrow, so let's get a good night's sleep. So you want to sleep inside or outside your pokeball?"

Shocked once again that her trainer was giving her a choice, Pidgey decided to sleep outside. After all, it was what she has done for her entire life._ 'He truly does have a kind heart, and I have known him for about 15 minutes now. I wonder what tomorrow will bring.'_

* * *

The next morning, Ash woke up at 7 A.M. He quickly threw together breakfast for himself and his Pokémon then shook them awake. After handing them their food in a couple of bowls, he chowed down on his own food. _'Ok, since Pikachu started to listen to me yesterday we can do some morning training. I believe I saw a clearing before we set up camp last night'_

"Alright guys, time to train. Let's move away from camp so that you have room to throw around attacks"

The group of 1 human and 2 Pokémon started on their way across the stream into an open clearing with several trees around the edges.

"First things first; Pikachu, we need to work on your aim buddy. You have a lot of power, but it's hard for you to hit a moving target. So I want you to try and hit that tree on the other side of the clearing. Once you do, try to hit it in the same spot again."

Pikachu gave a small salute and ran over and started firing off his thunder bolts at the tree.

"Pidgey, how are you feeling? Recovered yet?

In response, the little bird took to the air and started circling around Ash.

"That's the spirit, while you are up there I was you to practice on your maneuverability. You aren't the toughest of Pokémon and can't take too many hits, so ti counteract this, you need to dodge at a moment's notice. I also want you to improve your speed. Those 2 things are what I will rely upon you in battles for. To practice these things I want you to fly at a tree as fast as you can, then turn at the last second. Every time I want you to try to get a little closer to the tree, but be careful. I don't want you hurting yourself doing this."

With her instructions given to her, Pidgey started her first day of training with gusto.

As ash watched his only 2 Pokémon train, he started thinking. '_I will need to come up with some way to battle the first gym, the Pewter city Gym. I believe it used Rock and ground type Pokémon. Both Pikachu and Pidgey are weak towards them. I won't worry about it too much for now, but I do plan on challenging the gym within the week so I will need to come up with a plan sooner than later. But thinking about a happier thought, I caught my first Pokémon, on my first day as a trainer. Not too shabby. Hmmm, I think I will let them train until about lunch, then we should hit the road so we can be in viridian by night. That way I can make sure Pidgey really is back to 100% at the Pokémon center, and Pikachu can get a nice rest. Until then, I think I will do some reading'. _Pulling out a book entitled 'The strengths and weakness of Pokémon: Beyond type advantages', he decided to read up on Rock types.

* * *

At about noon, Ash told his Pokémon to stop. They both did remarkable, not complaining or stopping once beyond getting some water, or taking a quick breather. Pikachu had managed to hit the tree 9/10 time after the 4 hours he spent training, and it took him 1 of those hours to hit the tree in the first place. Pidgey , improved by a lot more, she was able to get within a foot of the tree before making a complete 90 degree turn, and able to go full speed at the tree and then miss it by a hair. It truly amazed ash how such a small amount of training can go a long way with new Pokémon. '_I think it has to do with what they have time to do. I mean, I seriously doubt a wild pidgey would have time to dedicate to training due to needing to find food, and needing to stay rested in case of an attack.'_

"Good job guys. Tomorrow I think I will have you two battle each other tomorrow. That way Pidgey will get the chance to dodge an actual attack, and Pikachu will get the chance to hit a moving target. Trees can only do so much. I made you guys a small lunch, because I actually only packed food for one Pokémon to get to viridian in a couple days, but I will treat you two to a big dinner when we to town."

After his little speech, Ash packed up his gear and hit the road with Pikachu and Pidgey on his shoulders.

Strolling down the road, both Pidgey and Pikachu were drifting in and out of dreamland on Ash's shoulders. And Ash was very happy, they were making good time. It was now he relied how glad he was to have spent the last year getting physically prepared for his journey. He knew walking across the entire continent would take along of work, so he would wake up every morning and go for a jog around pallet. While he was mentally giving himself a pat on the back, he suddenly heard a very loud shriek.

"EEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKK!"

Both Pidgey and Pikachu suddenly were wide awake.

"We better go check that out. Pidgey, fly ahead and if you see someone in danger help them. Pikachu, lead the way."

Rushing after Pikachu, Ash tried to think of something dangerous out here. They were somewere between Viridian City and Pallet town, closer to Viridian than Pallet. It wasn't exactly full of dangerous Pokémon, the most dangerous being Mankey's if he remember correctly. There was also a possibility of a swarm of Spearow, or a pack of rattata. But none of these scared him too much. Pikachu could deal with a bunch of small birds, and even if it was a large pack of rattata that wouldn't be more than 10. But as he rounded the clearing his heart skipped a beat. There, standing with a fishing pole, was a girl, probably a couple of years his senior with orange hair, a yellow top and jean shorts with red suspenders holding them up. That wasn't what made his heart skip a beat though; it was the 20 foot tall Gyarados. '_I didn't even know you could find one out here'. _He saw Pidgey using Peck attack on the water snakes head, but it seemed to only annoy it. Deciding to get rid of the pest, Gyarados attacked with a dragon rage attack.

"GYRRRRRRRRAAAAAA"

Luckily, Pidgey was able to dodge.

"Pidgey, fly up for now, you don't have the power to hurt it too much. I have an idea. Orangey, get back!"

Looking up, the orange haired girl was too scared to say anything but did run towards Ash

Not liking that the annoying human who got this hook stuck in its mouth, Gyarados fired another attack.

"GYYRRRA." And out came a Water Pulse attack.

"Pikachu, stop that with a Thunder Bolt, and then close the distance with a Quick attack"

Pikachu launched his lighting attack, evaporating the water. Then following ash's order, dashed at Gyarados. The serpent decided to charge up another attack but before the water Pokémon could fire a counter attack, Ash gave another command

"Pidgey, give Gyarados another Peck attack to interrupt him. Then Pikachu, once you get close enough give Gyarados a full powered thunderbolt"

As soon as pidgey pecked Gyarados, the water dragon turned to give the little pest a head-butt attack, but soon found it disappearing into one of those pokéballs. Growling in annoyance, he started looking for that yellow rodent, but before Gyarados could find it, he found himself being electrocuted, and paralyzed. Deciding that this was not worth petty revenge, dove back into the river and swam away.

"We did it! Good job guys, that was close, but we defeated it. I never imagined I would face a gyarados not 2 days into my journey."

Ash then let Pidgey out of her pokeball once again, and turned to the still shaking girl.

"Hey, are you alright Orangey? I know that Gyarados's are scary but it's gone now, you're safe"

Looking around, and then up at the young trainer, the girl takes a couple of breaths and stands up

"Thank you for saving me, but my name is Misty, not Orangey." She then yelled "And if you call me that again I pummel you to the ground!"

"Ok ok, I get it. Misty, my name is Ash. I was wondering what you did to piss off a Gyarados so much?"

"My goal is to become the best water Pokémon trainer. So I decided to do some fishing. I didn't think that any Pokémon in this area would give me trouble, but I was wrong apparently. At least I caught a slowpoke yesterday before my fishing rod broke, and gyarados blasted way my bike."

"Well we have similar goals. I want to be a Pokémon master. But I'm sorry to hear that Misty. If it's any consolation, I have never heard of finding a gyarados in this area. I believe it must have been a recently evolved magicarp, because it wasn't all that strong. I have heard horror stories of gyarados's rampaging and destroying coastal cities." Laughed Ash, but when he saw that Misty had a look of horror come across her face, he quickly added "Probably just over-exaggerations though, don't worry!"

Misty calmed down once again

"It's not your fault; I just am not the biggest fan of gyarados's. They are the only water type Pokémon I don't ever want. "

"To each their own. So where are you heading since you no longer have your bike and fishing rod?"

"I would just buy a new rod but I'm broke at the moment. I'm might head into viridian city and try to find some work…Or, I could go with you! Ya, I don't really feel like traveling by myself right now after that gyarados attack, you know what they say, safety in number after all right?"

Ash was about to just wave her off saying he wanted to travel alone, but he started thinking. '_You know, I could always use another person to train against. And besides, she has a point. Having another person than just myself to rely on would be nice, oh what the hell,'_

Ash smiled, "Sure, I would love for you to join me! I'm heading to Viridian anyway, staying the night and then heading for pewter to challenge the gym there."

"Sounds good to me. Let's just get away from here; I'm scared that Gyarados will come back!"

And with that Misty took off back towards the road, and Ash followed after her.

"I hope I don't end up regretting this Pikachu"

"Piiii, Pikachu pika!" squeaked Pikachu and he chuckled at his trainer.

"Laugh it up, better follow her though. I would hate to lose my new traveling companion only 5 minutes after meeting her."

**So what did you think? please let me know, i love reading reviews even critical one, as long as they aren't flames and actually are ****helpful. So far though, no flames, so keep up the good work! **


	4. Chapter 4

**Surprise! I had a bit of free time so im updating sooner than i had expected. Next one wont be till next week sometime though, due to finals. without further ado, here is the 4th chapter of AJANO!(((thats what i call my story in all of my word docs haha =P)**

**Disclaimer****: No, i dont own pokemon. Im not creative enough. Oh and im only a college student, a pretty poor one at that.**

As Ash, Pikachu, and Misty made their way down the path, they started to talk and get to know each other.

"You're kidding me? Your sisters were actually scared of the water until they were 12?"

"Ya, and both Mom and Dad tried to get them to swim but they refused because they couldn't see the bottom!"

Ash let out a loud laugh, "Oh man, and now they are the gym leaders of a water type gym? Geez, that would be like you becoming the leader of a bug gym!"

Misty glared at him "Don't even joke about that, bugs are gross! But I suppose if all I used were buttterfree's then I would be ok."

"Well then you would be a very predictable gym leader, I mean using only one type of Pokémon is already…..AHHHHH!"

"EIIIKKKK!"

"PIIIKKKAA!"

As they were walking along the road, both trainers, plus one rodent, suddenly found themselves in a small hole, about 3 feet deep. Feeling a little disoriented, the trainers heard laughter. But not human laughter, it came from a Pokémon. When they looked up they saw a small brown Pokémon, about the size of a basketball with claws on its hands and feet, rolling on its back, still laughing.

"Sandshrew shrewewew shrewew"

Misty, being the first to recover, yelled at the small biped Pokémon, "What's the big idea digging holes in the middle of the road! We could have been seriously hurt! When I get my hands on you ill.."

"Calm down. This sandshrew is obviously just a little looking for a laugh if I had to gues. Yelling will do nothing, and beside none of us were hurt, so let's just climb out and be on our way."

"But….." And before misty finished her sentence Ash was already out of the hole holding his hand to help her out.

"Come on Misty, it's almost night, we need to make sure we can get a couple of rooms at the pokecenter"

When she climbed out of the hole, she turned, glared and then stomped off.

Ash on the other, gave sandshrew a very serious yet caring stare.

"You really shouldn't keep this up sandshrew, one of these days you will meet a person that won't take too kindly to being pranked and will either catch you or just attack you. Either way I doubt you would like either outcome." And with that, Ash set down some pokefood for the creature and walked after misty with Pikachu on his shoulder.

'_What a stranger human. Most of them react the same way that orange hair witch did and yell at me. It's always so funny to mess with humans. This one on the other hand gave me food! Hmmm, I wonder what other surprised he holds…_' And with that thought, Sandshrew decided to follow the pair of humans.

* * *

"I can't believe it! Have all Pokémon gone crazy. First that gyarados attacked, and then we ran into some rattatas that tried to eat our food, and now a prankster sandshrew! What next? A flying diglet!" Misty shouted in frustration.

Ash just rubbed his temples in annoyance. Misty could get worked up over trivial. Didn't she realize that Pokémon had just as many personalities as humans, so of course there were lots of weird ones. Lord knows that there are weird humans everywhere. But he instead just nodded his head like he agreed and kept quiet. Telling her this would only set her off even more._ 'I just don't understand, she can be so pleasant one instant and then frustrating the next. At least she makes things interestin though_,' thought as he chuckled silently.

"We shouldn't have to worry about any crazy Pokémon for a bit, Viridian City should be just over this hill. First things first, let's head to the Pokémon center to get out Pokémon looked at."

"Fine but if we encounter another weird Pokémon, I blame you. All of this has happened either shortly before, or after I met you."

The trainer duo made their way into town. Viridian City no Saffron City, but it was a whole lot bigger than Pallet. Ash was amazed at the size, buildings were everywhere. He saw several apartment complexes, several large super markets, and even a few different pokemarts.' _I assume it I so big due to the influx of trainers that come here before going to the Indigo League. That means a lot of stuff is gong to be overpriced. We should probably try and figure out which one has the best prices…._'. But before Ash could plan anything else his eyes bulged. There, at almost the center of town, was a giant Pokémon center. He assumed it had to do with the closeness to the indigo league too.

"Wow, that thing must have the ability to hold thousands of pokemon….". Ash was still in awe at the size.

"Ya, Viridian City has the second largest pokemon center in Kanto. Only the Indigo Plateau has a larger one."

Both Misty and Ash tuned to see a young man in his mid-twenties. He had shaggy blond hair, a pair of black jeans, and a brown hoodie. Ash also saw 6 pokéballs around his waist, which made him a trainer, and obviously a fairly experienced one if he had 6 Pokémon.

"Hi, my name is Thomas. Sorry to eaves drop, but I couldn't help but brag about my city."

"No problem, thanks for the information. My name is Ash"

"And I'm Misty. You look familiar for some reason, have we met before?"

Thomas smirked, "Not in person, but I'm not surprised one of the cerulean gym leaders recognizes me. I'm the Gym leader here in Viridian City."

When Ash heard this, he immediately went through the list of everything he knew about Viridian's gym leader. '_From what I have read in the paper, he is a relatively new gym leader only being one for about a year now. He became the gym leader after first getting first place at the indigo Conference last year, and then exposing the ex-gym leader as the leader of team rocket. The reigning Champion of Kanto, Lance, came in and personally helped get rid of the Rocket base in the city. Since then crime in viridian has dropped 10 fold. This guy is obviously strong. Way too strong for me to battle just yet_.'

Ash then smiled and held out his hand for Thomas.

"Glad to meet you. Like I said I'm Ash. I just started my journey yesterday in Pallet town."

"No way, that's where I started mine too. Granted my home town is here in Viridian, but I went to Professor Oak to get my starter. I also use to keep all my pokemon at his ranch before I became a gym leader. Anyway, would you like to meet my starter?" Thomas asked as he pulled out a pokeball.

Both Ash and Misty nodded their heads excitedly. When Thomas saw this, he released his pokemon.

"Blastoise, come on out buddy!"

When the light from the release died down, a huge blue turtle with cannons sticking out of its shell appeared.

"Stoise, Blasttoise!"

"This here is my strongest Pokémon. I don't get to use him very much nowadays due to regulations on the strength of Pokémon in gym battles. No offense, but not very many trainers would get my badge if I could use any Pokémon I wanted. So Ash I have a couple questions for you. One, which of the 3 did you choose, and two were did you find a Pikachu in-between here and pallet, they are pretty rare."

"Well, the answer to both those is one in the same . My starter was actualy Pikachu here. Professor Oak gave his last squirtle to my rival Gary, and felt bad that I only had 2 options, so allowed me to pick Pikachu. He also mentioned some other reason, but wouldn't clarify."

"Hmmph, I wouldn't be too surprised if you did find a Pikachu Ash, like I said, you keep running into weird Pokémon."

Curious Thomas asked, "What do you mean Misty?"

"Well, I met Ash by him saving me from a gyarados over in the pallet river, and then on the way into town we were pranked by a sandshrew who loves to dig holes." Misty gave a scowl at the last part.

"That sandshrew has been doing that for the past week or so now. I haven't done anything because I thought it would stop eventually and get bored but I might have to step in. But wow, you defeated a gyarados already Ash? Even with Pikachu's type advantage that's impressive, I would be very interested in having a practice battle with you." Noticing the look of shock, and also slight fear on the young trainers face, Thomas quickly added, "Don't worry I won't be using any of my normal Pokémon, or even gym Pokémon. I just would like to have a 1 on 1 battle with a new Pokémon I recently got from my friend in the Hoenn region. The little guy could use some experience. What do you say?"

After learning that he wouldn't be fighting a super strong Pokémon, Ash was excited. _'this will be a good learning opportunity, battling a gym leader and the winner of the indigo league. Also battling a foreign Pokémon? Maybe I can pick up some tips from him too.'_

"Sounds like fun, you have yourself a battle!"

With that, Thomas led the duo to his gym, which was not all that far. The trio went inside. The inside of the gym was pretty plain. Some old fashioned pillars around the sides of the gym, with an area off to the left sie that has benches for spectators to sit. Ash and Thomas stood on opposite sides of the field, with Misty in the middle acting as a referee.

"This will be a 1 on 1 Pokémon battle. First person who loses his Pokémon loses the match"

"Is this your first Pokémon battle ash?"

"Ya, how did you know?"

"Easy, you're sweating and shaking. I was in the exact same state my first battle."

Ash was shaking. He was shaking due to his excitement to have his first battle, excitement at battling a strong trainer, and excitement at seeing a foreign pokemon. He knew a little bit about them, but he didn't spend too much time studying pokemon outside of the Kanto region, why would he?

"Well your right, but don't take it easy on me becaue of that!"

"I didn't plan on it, get ready, because here comes Beldum!"

Thomas released a floating, blue, metal thing with little steel spikes at the bottom of its frame, and a single red eye.

"Belllldum!"

"Wow, a beldum, those things are rare. Pikachu, you got the spotlight with gyarados, so Pidgey I choose you!"

The bird materialized on the field and stood facing down the metal Pokémon.

"GEY, piiidgey!"

"Pidgey versus Beldum, start!"

"Alright beldum start things off with a take-down attack!"

Ash knew that take down was the only move a beldum could use and that all he would need to do was dodge the things and it would slowly hurt itself for pidgey to finis hit off.

"Pidgey, dodge it and then wait!"

And dodge it she did. And Beldum got hurt because of the backlash of the attack.

"So, you know the weakness of take down."

"I do. I'm honestly a little insulted Thomas. I thought I said not to take it easy on me. Beldum is such an easy Pokémon to predict, because it only knows one move."

"Oh really? You know Ash let me teach you the first thing about a Pokémon battle, never assume you know everything about another trainer or pokemon. Beldum, use iron head!"

Shocked that beldum was using another move besides take-down, he quickly called out to pidgey, "Use double team to dodge it, don't let that move hit you!"

But his command fell on deaf ears, because pidgey was sitting there not moving. '_Dammit, I forgot that iron head can cause flinching_', and all Ash could do was watch as his Pokémon took a direct hit.

Pidgey squawked as she was hit with the powerful move. The little bird was able to stand up again though, _'I took a direct electric attack and this is nothing compared to that' _thought the small bird

"Pi….d…g…ey…"

"Wow that is one determined Pokémon you have ash. But one more hit and she is out, what will you do?"

"Pidgey are you willing to keep going?"

"Pidgey!"

"Alright, there is your answer Thomas, as long as pidgey isn't giving up who am I stop her?"

"Very well, let's continue!" '_Good job ash, having faith in your pokemon. That is what I was looking for, you will go far kid. But let us see how he handles this_.'

"Continue with my last order pidgey, use double team then agility!" With that, multiple copies of the little bird started circling the field, 8 to be exact, at a fast speed due to the agility.

'_Hmmm interesting, beldum won't know which pidgey is the real one, and unless iron head causes a flinch, he won't hit the bird. Very good Ash, this would be over if it weren't for one other move beldum knows…."_

"Beldum, use Zen head-butt, but get rid of some of its attack power in favor of focusing on your physic powers to hone in on the real one!"

'_Crap, I didn't know you could do that. But if you can make moves less powerful then….'_, "Pidgey, use mud slap but put as much power into the attack as you can!"

Beldum was charging at the bird with a faint blue sphere surrounding it. But when it was about half way there, a giant wave of sand appeared and hit beldum full force. Getting hit with the sand caused the steel Pokémon to stop its attack and tumble backwards.

Before Thomas could respond, Ash was already shouting, "Now follow up with Thief as fast as you can!".

The bird once again charged at beldum, and hit it with a direct dark attack, causing the Pokémon the faint.

"Beldum!"

Surprised, misty called out, "Winner, Ash and Pidgey!"

"Greta job pidgey you did great I'm going…" Ash was interrupted when Pidgey started glowing white, and then started growing and changing. What felt like eternity for Ash, but was actually only a few seconds, a new Pokémon appeared.

"PIDGEOTTO"

"Wow that awesome, you evolved!"

The new bird was about 3 times the size of its previous evolution, along with adding some red into its tail and head feathers.

"Wow, congratulation Ash, for both your first victory, and your Pokémon's evolution. If I could give you my badge I would, you showed several characterizes that will take you far. You are adaptable in the heat of battle, you know how to take advantage of a situation, and you care for your Pokémon."

"Aww shucks, your making me blush. I'm sure I wasn't that impressive, besides like you said you just got beldum, so you didn't have much time to train him."

"You would be surprise with how many trainers collect 7 badges, make it to me, and don't show your level of skill. Skill is a lot harder to learn than it is to train your Pokémon. But above that, you truly do care for your Pokémon. You proved that when you left the decision to fight up to your Pokémon. Like I said, you will go far."

"Thanks Thomas, that means a lot. I'm looking forward to being able to battle you for real!"

"Me too kid, me too. You should probably take your Pokémon to the pokecenter though, it's always good to have your them looked at after an evolution to make sure everything went smoothly."

Ash and Misty waved bye to their new friend and headed to the pokecenter to rest their Pokémon. When they got there, it was already night time, so they also booked a couple of rooms. It didn't take long for them to get their Pokémon back; all of them were healthy and ready for training in the morning. Both retired to their rooms for a good nights sleep.

**So, i would like to think alot happened in this chapter, I'm trying to pick up the pace of the story a little. Please let me know what you thought of the chapter, but especially my OC, in a review! **

**Also, just so its clear, i left the story as "pairings undecided" because im not sure who im going to stick with who yet. But i will give u a slight hint/fact, its not going to be AshxMisty...sorry, that pairing just always kind of bugged me, their relationship always reminded me more of a sibling one thing than romantic. **


	5. Chapter 5

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon, and won't be any time soon. End of Story(not this one don't worry). Period.**_

* * *

Waking up with a yawn and a stretch, Ash climbed out of the bed he slept in for the night at the pokecenter. When he got up, he lightly tapped the yellow rodent that slept next to him.

"Hey, Pikachu wake up. We need to go train."

The mouse slowly woke up, and sent Ash a glare.

"Pika!"

"Sorry buddy but we need to train. Don't you want to battle Thomas eventually?"

Hearing that name again, and remembering that particularly strong-looking Blastoise, Pikachu's glared died.

"P, pika, Pikachu!" Pikachu then lifted some invisible weights, and was now fired up for training.

"I'll never understand how you change moods so quickly. One second you're a grouch and the next you are a little ball of energy." Ash sighed as he said this, but Pikachu's cheeks started crackling with electricity.

"See what I…..Wait no, never mind, forget I said anything. It's not worth being shocked over"With that the boy and both of his Pokémon went outside of the center for some early morning training

* * *

Meanwhile, Misty was slowly waking up while rubbing sleep out of her eyes._ 'That was an eventful day. A wild Gyarados, meeting the new mysterious gym leader, not to mention catching..._'

"Crap! With all that happened yesterday I forgot to let my slowpoke out to meet my other Pokémon. Actually I never introduced any of my Pokémon to Ash either. Well I can hear him training outside, and I'm pretty sure he will be at it for a while if I take in to consideration his pidgey already evolved and he just caught her a couple days ago."

After talking to herself, getting dressed, taking a shower, and getting some food from the Pokémon center café, Misty headed to the practice field behind the center. Ash was still the only trainer outside. '_Makes sense, it is still 7:30. Most beginner trainers sleep in as late as they can. But then again, most trainers don't defeat a gym leader in their first battle either...'_ Misty stopped her train of thought in favor of watching Ash's Pokémon train. Both pidgeotto and Pikachu were battling each other, without Ash giving commands to either of them.

Pidgeotto was flying above Pikachu, narrowly dodging his thunder bolts. '_If I get hit with one of those, my beautiful feathers will get singed one again. Not to mention it will be a downhill battle from there if I get paralyzed. It's Time to take the offensive'. _

As soon as Pikachu fired off another thunderbolt, Pidgeotto immediately dove into an aerial ace. Pikachu attempted to stop the incoming Pokémon with an electric attack but couldn't get his attack off fast enough. This resulted in the electric mouse tumbling backwards, and getting a few scratches. '_That birds attacks hit a lot harder since she evolved. I need to think of something'._

"Pidgeoootto, etotto, pidgey, ooootttoo?"(Is that the best you've got little rat?)

"Pikachu, pi pi!"(Not a chance!)

As the battle continued, Pikachu continued to use electric attacks and pidgeotto continued to dodge them. _'This is getting super frustrating! This time my thunderbolt will hit her...it will_!'. Pikachu waited, charging up a thunderbolt for his opportunity. Then, he saw it, pidgeotto turned slightly, and Pikachu let out his charged thunderbolt. Only a thunderbolt didn't come out. An arc of electricity was released, that flew at incredible speed towards the bird. As pidgeotto tried to get out of the way, the lightning seemed to hone in on her, and she got hit with the full force of the attack. The bird was still in the air though, a testament to her strength.

Ash's eyes bulged. "Wow Pikachu, I think you just learned shockwave, that's incredible!"(2)

After a round of congratulations, Misty decided to speak up.

"Hey Ash, you haven't met my Pokémon yet have you?"

Looking surprised, Ash answered, "No I haven't, it completely slipped my mind with all that happened. You said you were water Pokémon trainer right?"

"Ya, so of course, they are all adorable water types, let me introduce them! Come on out everyone."

Misty then threw 3 pokéballs into the air. Out of the pokéballs came a yellow star with a red gem In the middle, a lightt pink four legged salamander, and finally a white creature with flippers and a tail that resembled a water spout(1)

"Seel and Staryu, meet slowpoke, our latest addition to the team!

"Seel seel!

"Ryu"

The pink salamander let out a yawn, "Slooowwwwppppppooooke"

"Also, this is Ash, Pikachu and Pidgeoto,

"Hi! It is a pleasure meeting you three!" Ash replied, and both Pikachu and pidgeotto gave a quick introduction

"You should go play over by the pond to get to know each other better! It is just behind the training field." Misty suggested, and her water Pokémon eagerly took off toward to body of water

"Wow misty, I didn't realize you had such cool Pokémon!" Ash exclaimed as he pulled out his pokédex to get a more accurate description of the Pokémon

"Thanks!

"Alright Pikachu, Pidgeotto, you're done for the morning. I'm going to patch you guys up, then go have fun with Misty's Pokémon"

After treating the minor wounds of his pokemon he watched them run off behind the trees. The two trainers then went and sat down at a nearby bench.

"So Misty, as you know I want to enter the pokemon league at the end of the year, and as a former gym leader, I am sure you know that I need to visit just about every single major city in the kanto region to do this. I would like to know how long you plan on traveling with me?"

Misty paused for a second and answered. "Well to be honest, I don't really have any goal in mind at the moment, so I would be ok with traveling all the way to the pokemon league with you. I have always wanted to see more of kanto, and it isn't very safe to travel alone. I mean if that's ok with you."

"I see no harm in us traveling together, just as long as you keep away from fishing for gyarados's!" Ash replied with a smirk.

"Hey! That was a freak accident, and besides even if I wanted to, the rod got lost in the river after gyarados attacked."

As the two friends were heading to go check up on their pokemon, they heard an explosion from the center behind them. Turning around, they saw hot air balloon shaped like a meowth's head, and several people with red 'R's attached to their backs descending into the center.

"We better go grab our pokemon and see whats going on" Shouted Ash.

Misty nodded in agreement, and they ran off.

* * *

As women with red hair was "talking" with Nurse Joy there were 3 other Team Rocket Grunts with pokéballs, and a man with blue hair, standing behind her.

"Please, this is a Pokémon center, all the Pokémon here could get hurt if you interrupt their treatment!" Pleaded the young nurse.

The red-haired lady sneered. "Save it, does it look like we care? Round them all up boys, the Boss is expecting us to succeed here. We need to make Viridian remember what…"

"Pikachu, use shockwave on those guys in black!" Commanded Ash as he barreled into the building

"ChuuuuU!"

The little mouse let lose 5 distinct bold of electricity. The three common looking thugs got hit and fell over twitching, but the colorful haired duo jumped backward in time to avoid the attack. By this time Misty had also appeared behind ash, pokéballs in hand.

"Well, it would seem we have a couple little heroes here. Tell me kids; do you know who we are?"

Misty was the first to respond. "Yes, you are Team Rocket ,a group of Pokémon thief's. I thought you would have been smart enough to stay away from Viridian, considering the gym leader chased you guys out!"

This time the blue haired man spoke up. "That was almost an entire year ago, things change. Jessie, let's get rid of these…these…twerps."

"I was thinking the same thing James."

The now identified Jessie and James threw a couple pokéballs into the air, releasing a Growlith and an Ekans.

A red and orange dog howled, "Growwwwwlith!"

The purple snake, Ekans, responded with a simple hiss.

"Two against one isn't very fair, let's even the odds, I choose you Seel!"

Seel appeared and stood next to Pikachu, both ready to fight off the criminals.

Jessie spoke up, "You're out of your league here twerps, just walk away and we will let you keep your pokemon."

James said sneering, "They look weak anyway; we are only interested in strong ones."

Ash didn't respond, instead he said, "Pikachu, start things off with a quick attack at Growlith"

And like a flash, Pikachu started the battle, heading in a straight line toward the fire dog. Surprised at the sudden command, Growlith was hit directly with the move, and stumbled backwards.

"Ekans, use bide!"

Being so close to the rodent, Ekans was able to snake its way around the rodent before it could escape. Pikachu cried out in pain at he was bound.

"Now Growlith, use bite on that Pikachu!"

Misty yelled, "Forgetting someone? Seel use water pulse on Growlith to stop it in its tracks!"

Seel had moved closer when Pikachu charged into the battle, and because of his close proximity to the battle, was able hit Growlith with the glob of water sending it back to the ground once again.

"And now, your Ekans is right in Pikachu's blast zone. Pikachu use thunder shock, max power!"

The snake quickly let go of Pikachu and it moved backwards towards its companion. But even though Ekans started running, it still got hit hard by Pikachu's electrical attack. After the little exchange, both Ekans and Growlith got back into position. Even though they did not look in the best shape, their trainers didn't seem to notice or care.

Jessie and James exchanged a quick look, and then "You kids are good, but we are just getting warmed up. Ekans, use sunny day."

"Growlith, use a flamethrower on the little rodent"

'Crap' thought Ash and Misty both. Thinking on her feet, misty decided to change who had the weather advantage.

"Seel, cancel out that sunny day with rain dance!"

Seeing his chance, as yelled out "Pikachu thunder shock that flamethrower!"

With the flamethrower losing power, the thunder shock easily zapped through it and exploded on the Pokémon and their trainers, sending them soaring through the air, but at the cost of a wall of the Pokémon center.

"We did it, good job Misty!" Exclaimed Ash as he high-fived his battling companion. "That rain dance was great timing, the flamethrower would have hurt otherwise."

"You too, Pikachu was in control of that battle the whole time, I didn't to that much"

By the time the trainers finished their after-victory chit-chat, a women in a police uniform stepped away from Nurse Joy and walked up to them.

"Excuse me but I am Officer Jenny, and I was wondering if I could get a minute of your time. What exactly happened here?"

After a quick explanation of what exactly happened, the trainers were led to a non-destroyed part of the pokemon center to get their partners healed right away in thanks for protecting the center.

"Hey Misty, I think we should get going after we get Pikachu and Seel back, I need to get back on schedule. Is that ok with you?"

"Sure, I would like to get as far away from these Team Rocket creeps as possible. I'm glad that the police were able to arrest those 3 goons Pikachu shocked at the start though."

Ash nodded with a smile on his face. '_i might be behind what my original pace was, but hey I have helped a lot of people already.'_

"Alright, but what do you say we grab lunch first?"

"Sounds great!"

* * *

After a great meal and getting their pokemon, the duo set off to Viridian Forrest, but not before one more roadblock was put on them.

"Hey guys wait up!" Yelled a blond-haired man who was running up behind them

Turning around Misty and Ash saw Thomas with a single pokeball in his hand.

"Im glad I caught up to you. Ash, in thanks for saving the pokemon center I wanted you to have this, its Beldum. He really took a liking to you after the battle. Also, I wont have time to raise him properly because of being busy with the gym, and now needed to investigate this new Rocket threat. Will you o that for me?"

To saw Ash was shocked would be an understatement. 'I felt lucky to see a Beldum, but now I get to raise one'

"Are you sure Thomas, I mean your friend did get Beldum for you, and you hardly know me"

"I may not but I know someone who does," smirked Thomas, "After I learned you were from pallet I gave my old friend Professor Oak a call to see if you checked out. I was already planning on giving you beldum after our battle, and after learning you stopped team rocket only solidified the idea. So once again, will you please take Beldum for me?"

"I would be a fool to refuse such a generous offcer!" exclaimed ash after finaly accepted the out-strehced pokeball.

"Thanks Ash, I look forward to seeing how well you raised him when you come back for an official gym badge. But I better be your 8th, I wont accept any other number!" Said Thomas, sticking out his hand for Ash to shake it.

"It's a deal Thomas!" And then Ash finished the hand shake.

And finely Ash and Misty turned their backs on Viridian and set their sights for the forest. But because Ash turned around after Misty, he caught a quick glance of a rainbow bird, flying through the clouds, and before he could blink, it was gone as quick as it appeared.

* * *

**(1)So I decided it was redundant to have misty use both a staryu and starmie so I gave her the staryu and changed starmie with seel. Basically….misty left starmie at the gym and took seel instead. Oh and slowpoke she caught before she hooked the gyarados. I kind of snuck that in there in chapter 3 lol. I'm going to try and give misty a diversity of water types. I mean come on…..she only caught a few water types considering she wanted to be a water Pokémon master.)**

**(2) I see Pokémon learning moves in 2 ways, one being they learn to use a move they already know in a different way (thunderbolt~shockwave) and two, by using a certain method of training to achieve the desired outcome(Pikachu learning iron tail in the anime). I know I made it seem really easy to learn shockwave here, but I promise moves won't always be that easy to learn.**

**SOOOOOOO, sorry for taking so long guys, but as I said before I have a really busy schedule. I write when I can and when I do, it takes a bit to re-find my inspiration. If this chapter seemed choppy I also apologize, because I wrote it at like 4 different times. I hope you like what I did with team rocket, I am going to go for the slightly-more bad-guy outlook on them, kind of like how they were portrayed in the first like 2 episodes of the anime. They aren't going to be evil though don't worry, just not push-over idiots! Also thoughts on ash now owning a beldum? Like always reviews are awesome and I love them so so so much, just as long as there are no flames and criticism is constructive (no issues so far keep it up =) )**


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